What Happens If We Cut 5th & 6th Grade Band & Orchestra Classes? 

I attended the Edmonds School Board Special meeting on Tuesday evening, March 19th. The primary goal of this special meeting was to review the results of the recent Balancing Act survey conducted between March 7th and 18th. Keep an eye out for the full results on the District’s ’24-’25 Budget page, available Thursday, March 21st. 

I started attending school board meetings last year, when my student was a sophomore in high school. It was the threat to our music and performing arts programs that got me engaged. While it may have been a little late in my student’s academic years, It’s better late than never. In the past year, I’ve begun to learn how funding for public education works in the State of Washington. It is complex and nuanced and I’ve barely scratched the surface. The more I learn, the more I understand that knowledge is critical to driving the change we want to see. Before I talk about how absolutely essential it is to keep 5th & 6th grade band and orchestra, I want to share a few other things I’ve learned. 

First, not every budget reduction option was on the Balancing Act exercise. This exercise helped educate the general public, helped us better understand what is at stake, illustrated how difficult this task is and gave us a chance to be heard. 

Second, many decisions have already been made. Edmonds School District (ESD) started a few months back with a $16 million deficit for the ‘24-’25 school year. The Superintendent and Board have managed to get that down to an estimated $10.6 million through funding and cost savings efforts made throughout this year’s legislative session. It’s a significant effort that is probably not well known. 

Third, ESD has a smart, experienced and empathetic leadership team. Listening to the discussion, it was clear that while everyone comes with their own preferences and bias’, this team brought genuine care and consideration to the conversation. 

Fourth, there is no silver bullet and cuts will have to be made. This will be another difficult year for the district.   

OK – so how can we save 5th & 6th grade Band & Orchestra? 

Here are a few key notes I captured from Tuesday’s discussion: 

• 5th & 6th Grade Band & Orchestra: On the Balancing Act survey, of the three choices, 37% said yes to cutting both 5th & 6th grade band & orchestra. 27% said to cut just 5th grade band & orchestra and 35% said to keep both. 
• When looking at eliminating a program, this was the second lowest approval rate on the list behind eliminating middle school athletics (24.5%). This means of all options on the exercise, music classes were the least desirable cut behind athletics.
• Everything else had higher overall numbers for elimination. Behind band and orchestra, was student intervention coordinators (38% vote to eliminate) and then paraeducators (39.7% to reduce the current numbers by 100 hours per day across the district).
• Quad concerts: 56% of respondents voted to eliminate quad concerts. Again, recognizing the value that these events bring to students and the community. 
• The report from the Balancing Act, with comments included, was 74 pages long. The 1,073 respondents had a lot to say. 
• The feedback from the Google form intended to capture additional or comments in lieu of the exercise was not covered during this meeting. 

It’s clear our community values music and recognizes the contributions it makes to student experience, growth, development and engagement. Our music programs were hit hard during COVID and, just as we’re starting to recover, these programs are impacted by budget cuts. I am  hearing from parents and teachers at middle schools that 7th grade music enrollment is the highest it’s been, even since pre-COVID. Classes are packed! 

Now what happens if we cut 5th & 6th grade band & orchestra classes? Instead of opting into music, finding their passion and growing their talent, students will only have general music and then seek out other, available electives. When time to register for 7th grade, the numbers will have dropped so significantly, that 7th grade classes will be cut due to low enrollment. If the middle school students aren’t enrolling, then it will trickle up to high school music programs. Eliminating these elementary classes will, I have zero doubt, crumble the foundation of some of the state’s best music programs. If you don’t believe it, ask about the history of choir at Mountlake Terrace High School (MTHS) and how we went from multiple, award-winning choirs to none. Zero choir at MTHS. 

When enrollment is down and classes are cut, the music teachers go with them. Some might say, it’s OK, we’ll bring them back next year. Even if we get the classes back, we are not likely to get the same experienced, program-building teachers back. And even if we did, they now have to start over from scratch, trying to rebuild. It will be close to impossible to bring back the programs we’ve lost, at the level they once existed. 

If we can support music programs for another couple years, drive funding and budget changes with the State and continue to grow enrollment as we currently are, the positive impacts to students and schools will be significant. The Superintendents and the Board will meet again in April to further discuss the budget and the tough decisions will need to be made by early to mid-May. 

What can you do to help? 

1. Show up at the board meeting on Tuesday, March 26th, with your student and have them share what music means to them. It doesn’t have to be profound or long – just have them share a sentence or two. Help the decision makers understand what’s at stake for your and your students. Be respectful. 
2. Listen, learn and get involved – seek out information. You can listen to previous board meetings here. 
3. Keep checking with MTHS Save the Music for updates. 
4. Write your legislators. 

In my next update, I’ll share what I’ve learned about state funding challenges and more opportunities to get involved. 

–Carolyn Harvey, MTHS Music Boosters President